‘Gotham’: Was That The Joker In Pilot?

Gotham has so far left viewers unsure whether it is a worthy addition to Batman’s back catalogue. However, there’s no denying the fact that it was packed to the brim with easter eggs that harked back to the legendary superhero, and one potential character has now been speculated to be the Joker.

The Joker is, of course, Bruce Wayne’s deadliest foe. He has caused havoc across Gotham for decades, and both Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan leapt at the opportunity to bring the miscreant to the big-screen with 1989’s Batman and 2008’s The Dark Knight, respectively.

But has Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger’s replacement in Fox’s Gotham already appeared after just one episode? It certainly looks that way. A nervous comedian trying out material while Jada Pinkett Smith’s Fish Mooney enjoyed a meal sat in the back-room of her club has now been picked out by Batman fans as the potential super-villain.

Of course this also comes off the back of numerous other cameo appearances that were dotted throughout the pilot episode. The Riddler, The Penguin, Poison Ivy, Catwoman and several other villains were teased as Gotham City Police Department tried to hunt down the murderer of Bruce Wayne’s parents.

In the past, Bruno Heller, the creator of Gotham, has been adamant that the inclusion of The Joker will be handled with “great care and a lot of thought.” But he did admit that plans were afoot to bring him into the series during an in depth interview with DC All Access.

“We do have an approach for the Joker. We have to keep our approach close to our collective chest, because the Joker is, to a degree, the crown jewel of Batman villains. We’re lucky in that television now is binge-watched by a lot of people, and the slow burn is now necessary. The great thing about the slow burn now is that we can take our time getting there and really draw people in, and earn the right to discover somebody who may or may not be the Joker.”

Meanwhile, Heller also previously told Digital Spy about his plans for the character.

“The Joker didn’t think of his shtick all by himself. There must have been someone before who The Joker saw and thought, ‘Oh, that’s a good shtick. I could work with that and make it better’.”

Does that mean that the man we saw in the pilot isn’t The Joker but is just his inspiration? We’ll just have to continue watching Gotham to find out.